Scroll down for full video lesson (with tab) of Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac

Rhiannon was written by Stevie Nicks from the globally successful band 'Fleetwood Mac' in 1975. The song appears on their self-titled album 'Fleetwood Mac' and was released as a single in '76. It went on to reach number 11 in the U.S.A and has become one of the band's best known songs.

The main riff to Rhiannon is a real classic among guitarists, it is great fun to play and sounds so good. However, having said that I see so many people (90%+) play it wrong.

If you listen carefully to the riff you'll hear that the bass notes aren't just playing on each beat. They're actually quite syncopated, and this is what many people get wrong. All will be taught in the video lesson.

The song is made up of just three very simple chords - Am, C and F. Like Street Spirit (Fade Out) that we looked at in the last lesson, Rhiannon is another 3 chord pop masterpiece.

You can of course just strum the chords if you're going to be singing the song, but in this lesson we're mainly focusing on a fingerstyle arrangement of Rhiannon. By far the most important thing to achieve when playing any arrangement is that you are 100% true to the melody line of the song. As you learn Rhiannon, really focus on getting that just right.

Rhiannon Song Details:

Key - A minor

Tempo - 129 bpm

Tuning - standard

Difficulty - intermediate - advanced

The Lesson

Riff:

This is the part that most people seem to get slightly wrong. If you do find the syncopated bass line really difficult, then just play the bass on each beat. Later on, come back and try and get that awkward bass line correct.